GPS players celebrate the winning point against CCS.
photo by M.A. Locke
It was do-or-die time for volleyball teams at GPS Thursday evening.
It was a match between the visiting Chattanooga Christian Lady Chargers and the host GPS Bruisers with a post-season berth on the line. The winner claimed third place in the D-II-AA Middle East Region while the loser was finished for the season.
GPS had beaten CCS in its two previous matches, but the last one was a real battle as the Bruisers prevailed in five sets, winning the decisive one by an 18-16 final.
Thursday’s match wasn’t nearly as close, but the results were the same.
The Bruisers breezed to the 3-0 win while improving to 21-13 for the season. CCS finishes its season at 18-20.
It was close for a while, but GPS was simply too strong in every aspect of the game as they won by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-18. The match was over in 62 minutes.
“That’s the team we’ve been looking for all season,” said GPS coach Jasmine Brown following the event.
“We played a clean match and didn’t make many mistakes, but we got the momentum early and never gave it up. We’ve been working on ending rallies quicker, but this is where we want to be. We came in here today ready to compete. All I ask is that we keep improving.
“I told our girls before the match that just because we had beaten them twice, we couldn’t just assume we’d win, but I thought we played pretty well and I’m really proud of them,” Brown concluded with a smile.
CCS coach Sarah Stutheit could only shake her head and wonder what might have been when this one ended. Summer Jones is the only senior on the CCS roster, so the future looks good, but that didn’t take away from a heartbreaking loss to end their season.
“We just didn’t come out ready to play. I thought we started out strong, but we didn’t execute our game plan and things got really mental at times. We just didn’t do what we do best,” Stutheit said.
“All we can do now is look toward next year. We were hoping that this year might have been better, but we’ll just move forward and hope for better luck next time,” she concluded.
Back-to-back kills from Ansley Blevins gave GPS a 7-3 lead in the first set, leading to the first timeout by the Lady Chargers.
Eight straight service points from Lauren Kay allowed CCS to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 12-7 lead, but just a quickly, Aubrey Holloway knocked down nine straight from the service line for an 18-13 lead.
The Lady Chargers stayed within striking distance, but never got closer than three points the rest of the set. Back-to-back kills from Chapel Cunningham and Blevins put the Bruisers ahead 1-0.
Four straight service points from Cunningham gave GPS an 8-4 lead in the second set while six more a little later extended a 17-13 lead to 23-13. Back-to-back kills from Reagan Ziegler and Preslee Brooksbank gave the Bruisers a commanding 2-0 lead.
The final set was tied four times early, but the Lady Chargers could never put together a run that gave them any kind of advantage. GPS probably had a lot to do with that.
An ace from Holloway and consecutive kills from Brooksbank turned a 9-9 tie into a 13-9 GPS and it never got closer than three points as the Bruisers kept the pressure on until the end.
Brooksbank had 13 kills and 14 digs to lead GPS while Cunningham had an outstanding match with 21 assists to go along with her eight kills and nine digs. Blevins had seven kills and Kylie Barry eight digs for the winners.
Jones was tops for the Lady Chargers with six kills and 10 digs. A.J. Johnson also had a half-dozen kills and nine digs while Lauren Day had 11 digs, Emily Day had 13 assists and Kay 10 digs.
Knoxville Catholic is the top seed in this region while Baylor is second. GPS is third and will be on the road for a match with an undetermined foe in Nashville on Tuesday.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN STATS:
Annie Johnston – 3 assists, 1 dig, 2 aces
Lauren Day – 11 digs
Lauren Kay – 1 assist, 10 digs, 1 ace
A.J. Johnson – 6 kills, 9 digs, 2 aces
Emily Day – 13 assists, 1 kill, 7 digs
Kayla Youell – 2 kills, 1.5 blocks
Avery Ray – 3 kills 2 blocks, 1 dig
Savannah Ricketts – 1 assist, .5 block, 1 dig
Summer Jones – 6 kills, 2 blocks, 10 digs
Abbey Massey – 1 kill.
GPS STATS:
Kylie Barry – 8 digs, 1 assist
Ansley Blevins – 7 kills, 2 blocks
Preslee Brooksbank – 13 kills, 2 blocks, 14 digs, 1 ace
Faith Copeland – 1 kill, 8 assists, 5 digs
Chapel Cunningham – 8 kills, 21 assists, 9 digs, 3 aces, 1 block
Aubrey Holloway – 3 digs, 1 ace
Claire Nicola – 5 kills, 1 block
Reagan Ziegler – 3 kills, 11 digs, 1 ace.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)